Family Portrait
Back from Christmas with his father, Remus decided to take a walk out in the fresh air of Hogwarts's grounds. He needed the cold, the new sights, to sort himself out. Remus loved his father, but without his mum around anymore, it was easy to see they had no bond to speak of.
Remus knew it wasn't because they were two entirely different people either. In many ways, they were alike. It was because Remus was a werewolf. It was because his father was the reason he was a werewolf.
It made being in the same room difficult. At times, his father's guilt was so strong he could barely stand to look at Remus. Other times, Remus could not let himself speak out of fear he would spit something regrettable at the man. It made having anything resembling a normal father-son relationship impossible.
Remus came to a pause in his strolling and stared down at his boots. They were new. A gift from his father. It was a lovely gift. Thoughtful too. Remus had been wearing the same pair of boots for almost three years now.
His father had noticed they were getting old and bought him these. He smiled in spite of his conflicted mood. For all his faults and mistakes, Remus had not once doubted he was loved by his dad.
"Hi!" chirped a bright, girlish voice, startling Remus into looking up.
He felt himself stiffen at the sight in front of him. He had been hoping it would be a first-year stuck here at Hogwarts for the hols, but no, it was Severus's youngest daughter.
She wore a royal blue hat with flaps that covered her ears and some of her rosy cheeks. Her dusky pink robe was covered in speckles of snow from her shoulders to her ankles and her mittens, the same color as her hat, had snow packed to the palms. She had to have been put under an exceptional warming charm to not be shivering even a little bit right now.
The girl, Calliope, he believed, beamed at him. In the process, she showed off that she was missing a smattering of teeth and a couple of new adult ones stood prominently beside her remaining baby teeth.
"Oh, h-hello," he stammered, casting his gaze around to search the nearby area. If Severus was out here he did not want the man to think he was the one bothering his daughter. He was sure it would end poorly for himself and leave the girl distraught too.
When Remus realized Severus was not around, nor was his wife, he turned his attention back to the little blonde girl and asked, "Where are your, ah, parents?"
She continued to smile at him in a way that rang as triumphant to him. "Sev and Edie are inside."
"I see," he said with a small frown. Remus studied the grounds again. There was no way Severus let his youngest go out alone. Even if it was the holidays and most students were gone for it. While Severus was not a reviled professor from what Remus had seen, he was certainly not a favorite of the children either. He was not going to let his little girl around them unsupervised lest they say something unkind to her.
Over a nearby hill, he thought he spied a handful of students in the midst of a snowball fight. Remus counted the figures, there were four of them. It was one too many to be just Severus's older daughters and sister, but three did look to be girls, and one was a boy. Maybe it was a mate of Darla's. He seemed quite a bit taller than Severus's daughters.
"Then what are you doing out here?" questioned Remus, returning his attention to the girl.
She gestured to the group playing that Remus had spied. "I'm playing with my sisters, Darla, an' Marcus!"
Ah, so it was them and a mate. They had probably been pressed into taking Calliope with them to play and she had wandered off at some point. "Is that so?" he said as he turned in the direction of the group. He smiled at Calliope who had come up next to him. "What kind of game are you playing?" he asked as if he didn't have eyes or an ounce of sense.
"I'm making snow angels," she said, grabbing his hand and making him cringe. He wished he had put on his gloves instead of leaving them in the pockets of his robe. She then gestured to some sloppy, girl-shaped imprints coming up the knoll in their general direction.
"And everyone else?" pressed Remus, ignoring the way his hand was growing wet and numb.
She pointed further down the knoll, to her playing family and their mate. "They're having a snowball fight over there."
"Hm, I see," replied Remus. With his free hand, he stroked his beard. Meeting Calliope's dark brown gaze, he asked, "Do your sisters and aunt know you are making snow angels?"
Immediately, the girl looked away from him and mumbled, "Umm…"
Remus could not help but chuckle. "Let's head back over, shall we?" he suggested.
Her shoulders fell and she gave a large sigh. "Okay," she agreed.
Nodding, he led them down the knoll and toward the playing students. As he approached, he realized the Marcus Calliope had been speaking of was Marcus Belby. Remus enjoyed teaching him. He was quiet, but when he did choose to participate in class discussions, his words were thoughtful and showed he was paying attention to Remus's lessons.
The usually mild-mannered teen seemed quite different, freer, as he played with the girls. Remus watched, startled, as Marcus lunged toward Severus's sister with an unfamiliar aggressiveness and grabbed her arm. Smirking, he shoved a snowball into her stomach.
"Ah! Marcus!" Darla decried, wrenching herself away from the younger and kicking snow up at him. "That hurt!" she bleated with a convincing pout.
The boy's smirk grew unsteady and he said, "Sorry, Darla."
Remus's eyes found the eldest Snape daughter when she proclaimed, "Don't apologize to her, she's trying to manipulate you." Remus stared at the glowering Eileen as she placed her hands on her hips and told Mr. Belby, "She does it all of the time to Essie."
"I do not!" countered Severus's sister, eyes wide and tone one of scandalized betrayal. The earlier hurt had vanished without a trace to be found. Remus was inclined to believe the other girl.
Eileen rolled her eyes while Essie stopped in making a snowball to look from her sister to her aunt. A small frown on her face, she mumbled, "She does?"
Before he could see the three devolve into squabbling, Remus cleared his throat. "Ehm, hello," he said.
Essie jolted at his greeting, dropping her half-made snowball in the process. As for Eileen, she stared at him with a disinterested sort of air to her. The polite one of the bunch was Marcus who returned his greeting. "Hello, Professor," he murmured. "Happy Boxing Day."
He smiled at the boy, but his levity died when Severus's sister shot forward, snarling, "Calliope, what are you doing with Professor Lupin?"
Remus took a step back, not liking the look on her face at all. It reminded him of Severus before he'd do something really nasty when they were schoolboys. Calliope did not fall back with him. Instead, she held firm in place with a sulkiness pulling at her lower lip. "Nothin'," she mumbled.
Darla pointed forcefully at her side and ordered, "Come here."
The little girl stamped a foot. "But—"
"Now!" shouted the seventh-year, causing Marcus to blink, her oldest niece to sigh, and younger one to wince.
Calliope let go of Remus's fingers and trudged over to her aunt's side. Once there, Darla curled her fingers in the girl's shoulder. The fabric beneath her hand was taut, but, thankfully, Calliope did not seem to be in pain from the hold. If anything, she appeared right cross with her aunt. She kept glaring at her out of the corner of her eyes.
"You didn't have to yell like that, Darla," chided Eileen.
The seventh-year's head whipped around at her words. "Who's in charge?" she hissed at the second-year, making the girl huff in irritation.
Remus saw his chance and seized it. "Ah, so it's you who is supposed to be keeping an eye on her," he remarked.
Darla turned her attention back to Remus. Crossing her arms, she narrowed her eyes and replied, "What of it?"
"Darla!" hissed Essie, eyes large and clearly horrified by the way she was speaking to Remus. It made him wonder.
What all had Severus told his girls about Remus?
Remus shook his head. It was not the time to go down that line of questions. Now, he needed to focus on the problem at hand. Darla had let her youngest niece wander away from her. Remus knew Severus would be quite furious if he knew. Gesturing to where he'd come from, he told the seventh-year, "I found her over that hill there. Did you know she'd wandered so far Miss Snape?"
"I don't have to answer to you on hols," she spat as her nieces and Marcus turned gobsmacked eyes on her.
He frowned, but, otherwise, did not react to the teen's vitriol. "No, perhaps you don't," he agreed coolly. "Your brother and his wife, however…"
Essie lept at her aunt, pulling and twisting at her robe. "Darla apologize before the rest of hols are ruined!" she begged.
Darla got in the girl's face and snarled, "Shut up, Essie!"
Instantly, the first-year let her aunt go and fell back a step, hunching in on herself. Her older sister filled the place in front of her, the lines of her jaw taut. Blue eyes as frosty as that day in the classroom, she growled, "Do it, Darla."
Remus watched as the two girls sized one another up, Darla trying to break her niece by bearing her teeth alongside her black, feral glare. Eileen raised her chin an almost imperceptible amount and kept her gaze piercing. Finally, Darla's teeth disappeared back behind her thin lips and she turned her face toward Remus.
Her eyes had lost a little of their wildness, but he knew one wrong move and she'd not be afraid to remind him just how untamed she was. "…I'm sorry, Professor. I didn't mean to be short," she ground out. "I hadn't realized she'd gotten so far from us."
Remus decided to be gracious and accept the far from contrite apology. "Thank you," he replied. "I didn't mean to ruin your fun. I just wanted to bring Miss Calliope back to you."
"We understand," Eileen told him, eyes back to being deep, calm pools of water instead of a frozen lake. "Thanks, Professor. We'll keep a better eye on our sister from now on."
"Of course," he said. Half-heartedly he tried to smile. He wasn't sure it worked because Eileen didn't smile back and Marcus looked concerned. "I don't believe I need to mention this to Professor Snape if that's the case," he said before very carefully turning his back on the children. Remus almost didn't want to, he recalled his schooldays with Severus too well, and he worried Darla might try to hex him. The girl seemed the type unbothered by consequences if she felt righteous or angry enough.
Once he's taken his first step away from the group, Eileen called after him, "Happy New Year, sir."
Remus paused and looked over his shoulder. He nodded at the girl alone and said, "Thank you, Miss Snape. A happy New Year to you too."
With that, he picked up his pace and started to climb the knoll back toward Hogwarts. As he did, he heard Marcus ask the girls in a tone of pure disbelief, "…What was that?"
"He's a prick," proclaimed Darla without an ounce of hesitation. Remus cringed. Try as he did with her in and out of class, she seemed stuck to her first impression of him. It frustrated Remus. Why did she and her damn brother both have to be so grudgeful? Was it really that hard to see Remus was trying to be better?
There was a mild thwack followed by Eileen arguing, "Oh, he is not! You were late, you let Farley goad you. Why are so offended still he took some measly points?"
"Shut up!"
Remus almost turned at the shout, but, thankfully, the other children intervened. "No, Darla!" cried little Calliope at a startling pitch. "We're havin' fun today."
"That's right, Calliope," agreed Essie. An unfamiliar amount of steel to her usually soft voice, she declared, "If you aren't going to be nice we'll go play somewhere without you."
"I'm supposed to be watching you! Edie said!" argued Darla.
Marcus spoke up on the younger girls' behalves. "I think if they're with me, Professor and Mrs. Snape won't be cross," he remarked. "Professor Snape actually gave me an O on my last potion, that's basically approval of me as a person." There was a pause followed by a very pointed, "That's what you told me, remember?"
"Fine!" snapped Darla, just as incensed as before, but apparently willing to call a truce if it meant she would not lose the battle. Remus wondered if that was Mrs. Snape's influence. Severus had never known when to give up. Her voice dropped to something between sulky and pleading as she said, "Just… You can't go up to him like that Calliope." Remus could imagine in his mind's eye a fresh fire alighting her eyes as she burst, "None of you should!"
"Why not?" asked Marcus and Remus's heart sprung to his throat.
Was Darla going to reveal what she and her older nieces knew to Marcus and Calliope? Remus, now atop the knoll, knelt down as if to fix the buckles on the sides of his boots. In that position, he waited with anxiety churning his stomach.
There was a sigh. "Sev told us not to," she grumbled.
"…Why'd he say that?" pressed Marcus, clearly confused.
Eileen answered instead of her aunt, "He knew Sirius Black once. Except so did Sev and most of the professors too. He's just being paranoid 'cause they were in the same year and house as students."
Remus released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. So the girls weren't going to spread around his past more. He'd thought it bad enough when he overheard Essie telling Harry about his friendship with Sirius. Thankfully, that hadn't ruined things too much. While Harry was more reserved than before, he was still a good student in his classes and polite outside of them. It also seemed he hadn't told any of his non-Snape mates as they all acted the same with him as they had before Harry was informed of his past.
"Oh," replied Marcus. "Huh," he added, clearly absorbing the new information. "I guess I understand why Professor Snape wants you to keep your distance."
He held back a sigh. Remus was sure Marcus would become another distant student to him. However, his worries were put to rest when the boy said, "From what I have seen, though, he's a good bloke and better professor than most." His tone was half-lecturing, half-appealing as he told the girls, "You should try and make your minds up about people more on your own than on what your parents say."
"I told them that!" crowed Eileen in a rare show of loud delight as Darla made a derisive noise.
"I did make up my own mind," she snapped "I decided he's a berk and that's it!"
Remus shook his head. He just knew another squabble between Darla and Eileen was on the horizon. Uninterested in listening to it, Remus wished Marcus and Essie silent luck in putting a quick kibosh on the row. Standing up, he walked off in the direction of Hogwarts, thoughts of a warm cup of tea invading his mind.
Feelings on Calliope's meeting of Remus? His interactions with all of the girls?
Thank you for reading!